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Wednesday, October 21, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
POLITICS-PAKISTAN: 'Putting Musharraf on Trial is Pointless'
Pervez Musharraf resigned as Pakistan's president on Aug. 18 to escape certain impeachment. But now there are calls from various quarters to have the former military dictator prosecuted for actions committed during his nine eventful years in office.
US/PAKISTAN: Mystery Behind Aafia Siddiqi’s ‘Arrest’ Deepens
‘’For you it’s just another story. If you want the truth go to Ghazni where you will get more than I can ever tell you about my sister," said a distraught Fouzia Siddiqi, speaking with IPS, in a voice breaking with helpless desperation.
PAKISTAN: Experts Warn of Unrest Over Food Prices
For Mohammed Bashir, a restaurant chef, it was galling to have to be standing in line at a langar (soup kitchen) waiting to be served a free meal. Bashir lost his job four months ago when he injured a finger in a traffic accident.HEALTH: Conflicts Make Women More Vulnerable to HIV
"I’m a survivor, and if I can live through all that has happened to me, so can other women," said Floride Nyiraneza, 42, who is HIV positive and a widowed mother of four.
HEALTH: Global Village or Sexual Minority Ghetto?
Dealing with transgenders (TGs) can be confusing. Even the organisers of the 17th International AIDS Conference underway in this city failed to accommodate the third gender by providing them separate toilets.
HEALTH: Time To Base Public Policy On Rights
Preaching abstinence to the young has not worked, nor has sex work been eradicated. Experts gathered here for the 17th International AIDS Conference say it is time to put public policies under the microscope and see why they have failed.HEALTH: March Sets Tone For AIDS Conference
The rain gods failed to dampen spirits of activists gathered at the old city centre of Zocalo to protest discrimination against those with the HIV virus. Hundreds of activists dressed in bright tribal costumes, women dressed as skeletons and one gay man wearing tights assembled ahead of the six-day XVII International AIDS conference, Aug. 3 to 8.
DEVELOPMENT-PAKISTAN: Major MDG Initiative Winds Down
On Thursday, Mohammad Ibrahim loses his job at the United Nations-partnered National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) as part of ‘downsizing’ that will see 22,404 employees (including literacy coordinators and healthcare programme staff) sacked.POPULATION-PAKISTAN: Illegality Inducing Unsafe Abortions
For thousands of Pakistani women, the World Population Day message of ‘Family planning is a right, let’s make it real’’ must sound hollow when they must resort to unsafe, illegal abortions while a debate on whether termination of pregnancy is Islamic or not rages on.
PAKISTAN: Water – At Much More Than a Turn of the Tap
For the uninitiated, it’s surreal: men and boys stepping out of their homes into the unpaved and narrow alleys of the Korangi Dhai slum in the wee hours before dawn, armed with rolls of colourful plastic tubing and heavy electric pumps.MEDIA-PAKISTAN: Caught Between State and Non-State Actors
"My captivity only brought honour upon me," is how journalist Suhail Qalandar sees his ordeal at the hands of kidnappers last year. He was talking with IPS over the phone from Peshawar, capital of the North West Frontier Province.SOUTH ASIA: Indian Films Back On Pakistan’s Big Screens
Domestic worker Naziran Begum has only one passion in life - watching Indian films. After a hard day’s work, she settles down before her cheap 14-inch TV set to flick through a myriad of movie channels for a mere 150 rupees (3.75 US dollars) per month.
EDUCATION-PAKISTAN: Religious Schools – Boon or Bane?
Mehboob Illahi, 15, cannot wait to leave Pakistan and the Jamia Binoria, the largest madrassa (religious school) in Karachi, forever.DEATH PENALTY-PAKISTAN: Reprieve For Indian ‘Spy’ Raises Wider Hopes
"While I am against the death penalty, given Pakistan’s flawed judicial system, I won’t be able to request a reprieve for Sarabjit Singh as he was involved in terrorism and was proved guilty in court," Ansar Burney, Pakistan’s minister for human rights, told IPS in a telephone interview from Islamabad.
DEATH PENALTY-PAKISTAN: Condemned Indian 'Discovered' After 35 Years
"I am convinced I became a minister just for him," Ansar Burney, Pakistan’s recently-appointed minister of human rights, said in a telephone interview from Islamabad with IPS.POLITICS-PAKISTAN: 'AG Tape Confirms Vote Rigging Fears'
"The Attorney General is famous for saying things that somehow get 'providentially' taped," said Wajihuddin Ahmed, a former supreme court judge, commenting on the tape that has Malik Qayyum predicting that the Feb. 18 elections are going to be ''massively rigged''.RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Ailing Gitmo Prisoner May Die Says His Lawyer
Saifullah Paracha, a Pakistani national incarcerated in the United States military prison in Guantanamo, Cuba since September 2004, suffers from a serious heart condition and may not live unless provided special care, says his lawyer.
ENVIRONMENT-PAKISTAN: Army Factory Effluents Kill Cattle – Won’t Own Up
The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), known to go about its work with zeal, appears to have run up against a particularly formidable polluter - a fertiliser factory run by the Pakistan army.
PAKISTAN: Food Shortages Dim Public Enthusiasm For Polls
While the drawing rooms of Pakistan’s rich and powerful are abuzz with speculations on who killed Benazir Bhutto, and whether or not the elections in February are going to be free and fair, the question on the minds of most ordinary people is how to get their daily bread.PAKISTAN: Rail Accidents – More Than Nuts and Bolts
While authorities have attributed the Dec. 19 railway tragedy to a possible rail fracture from cold weather, experts say the issue is not about nuts and bolts but a reflection of overall transport policy.HEALTH-PAKISTAN: Making Cadaveric Organ Donations Work
More than two months after Pakistan passed a law to encourage cadaveric organ donations and do away with commercial transactions in live human organs, doctors are struggling to establish and popularise a deceased donor programme.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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